Manual Testing vs Automation Testing: Which Is the Superior Choice?

Manual Testing vs Automation Testing: Which Is the Superior Choice?

The booming technology industry shows no sign of stopping. Global purchases of tech services, hardware, and software increased by 4% over the last year alone.

Experts predict this global technology market will hit $3 trillion in 2018 with IT consulting services and software seeing the strongest growth. Software developers need to get their products out as soon as possible to get a chunk of this massive market.

Testing your software before the launch should be a high priority since a bad first impression can taint your brand forever. Learn about the types of testing in software engineering below and whether manual testing vs automation testing will work best for your program.

What is Manual Testing?

Manual testing refers to the process of a human searching through a software program for bugs or defects. A person sits in front of a computer screen and pretends to be an end user actually interacting with the application's features. The person must search through each aspect manually, which takes a lot of time and effort.

What is Automation Testing?

Automation testing uses computer-based automation software testing tools to search for errors. They use pre-scripted tests on the program's features to compare the results to the expected ones and produce a report.

Automated tests offer recording and playback capabilities that allow you to record and watch the test from beginning to end. Once you discover and fix a problem, you can run the software again to verify the fix worked.

Advantages and Disadvantages of The Two Types of Testing Techniques

Manual testing tends to be more time consuming than automated testing. However, when a human does perform the test, it gives the software developers a better understanding of the program's user friendliness. A computer can tell you if the buttons work, but it can't tell you if they look appealing or not.

Manual testing also costs much less money in the short term since you do not need to buy expensive software. Automated testing costs less in the long run usually since you can accomplish more in a shorter amount of time. Once you create the test suite, you can simply run it over and over again and shorten the search process.

Automation testing also produces more reliable and accurate results most of the time. It makes the retesting process much easier as well.

You need to understand programming to run automated tests, but, luckily, most software engineers already do.

When is it Better to Use Manual Testing Vs Automation Testing?

Manual testing works best for:

Ad-Hoc Tests

Ad-hoc tests refer to a type of testing in software engineering where there is no specified plan or approach. The human tester's knowledge and insight are the most important factors.

Usability Tests

An automated program cannot measure the convenience, efficiency, or user-friendliness of your software program like a human. Only another human can understand these necessities for the end user.

Exploratory Tests

Sometimes errors occur outside of the tasks set in an automation testing program. Exploratory tests require a human to go through the application and use their experience, knowledge, analytical skills, intuition, and creativity to find the problem.

Automated testing works best for:

Performance Tests

Testing the program's stability and responsiveness when facing a specified workload.

Repeated Execution Tests

Regressions Tests

Automation makes the frequent changing of codes easier since you can run a regression faster.

Load and Performance Tests

You cannot perform these tests manually.

Data Driven Tests

Automation allows for tests when the exact same functions require validation from many different large data sets and inputs.

Sharing Your Perfected Product

Creating and perfecting your software program using manual testing vs automation testing is just the first step. Next, you need to share your software with the world.

Understanding the latest digital marketing trends will help you market to your tech-savvy customers online. We can help you build a smart digital marketing strategy and assist with any app or web development as well.

Contact us today to partner up with our IT experts and launch your product this year!